W H E 



Agriculture, that fome do not like to cut wheat green, 

 except it be the American white, which is brittle, and muft 

 be cut early, to prevent a lofs of ears. It rarely lays. 

 In Rochford hundred they do not cut till the wheat is 

 ripe ; but fome few reap while it is yet green. It is, how- 

 ever, obferved by a good farmer, that moft rough chaff 

 wheats, if they do not fland till fully ripe, will not threfh 

 well. 



It is ftated, too, in the Norfolk Report on Agriculture, 

 that Ivlr. Parmenter, miller at Aylefham, a confiderable 

 farmer alfo, and a very intelligent man, remarked that the 

 farmers let their wheat Hand too long before cutting. They 

 are apt to have a notion, that when millers give this opinion, 

 it is fpeaking for their own intereft ; but he cuts his own 

 wheat before it is ripe, and would do fo on the largell 

 fcale, if he was not a miller. The quality is far fuperior, 

 and the corn juft as good. And Mr. M. Hill prefers cut- 

 ting green, and never yet commenced harvell but he wifhed 

 he had begun three days fooner. 



In the firft of thefe Reports on Agriculture, a praftice 

 termed fagging is noticed as being for the firil time met 

 with. When the wheat-crops are very heavy, with broad 

 luxuriant leaves, men with fickles move regularly through 

 it, ftrike off many of them, for lightening the top, as a pre- 

 fervative againft being beaten down by rain. It fhould be 

 done carefully, or damage may eufue. See Reaping, 

 Harvesting of Grain, Stacking, and Threshing. 



Produce. — In refpeiS to the quantity of wheat produced 

 upon an acre, it muit vary confiderably, according to the 

 circumftances of foil and preparation, as well as the ftate of 

 the feafon ; for it has been found that in fome years the 

 yield is under twenty, while in others it is upwards of thirty 

 buihels the acre, the foil and culture being in every refpedl 

 the fame. And tlie average return of this crop throughout 

 the whole of the kingdom, is probably not more than from 

 three to three and a half quarters. And Mr. Donaldfon 

 has, indeed, ftated it at not more than three quarters the 

 acre. The greateft crop of wheat, of which the author of the 

 Report on Agriculture for Middlefex has any account, is, 

 it is obferved, fixty-eight bu(hels per acre ; the leaft about 

 twelve. The medium between thefe extremes is forty, 

 which, it is conceived, would be the average of land highly 

 conditioned. But the average produce of Britain does not, 

 it is imagined, exceed one-half of this quantity, and yet, it 

 is thought, that wheat is as certain a crop as any that is 

 cultivated. It is obferved, that the yield of feveral years 

 varies the proportion which wheat bears to the ftraw in a 

 very great degree, but that the average is about twelve 

 buftiels of wheat to each load of ftraw, weighing eleven 

 hundred weight two quarters and eight pounds. It has 

 been afterted, and probably with truth, that the ftraw of 

 autumnal-fown wheat is more harfh, and lefs agreeable to 

 cattle, than the ftraw of that which is fown in the fpring. 

 The weight of wheat by the bufliel differs very much in dif- 

 ferent cafes ; but in moft ftroug land diftrifts it is ufually 

 about fixty-two or thi^ee pounds to that quantity. 



The yield of wheat is the greateft at the time of reaping, 

 and becomes fucceftively lefs and lefs the longer it is kept, 

 fo as ultimately, in many cafes, to be a difadvantage to the 

 farmer of not lefs than nearly one (hilling in the bulhel. 



It may be noticed, that it is necelfary, with the view of 

 afcertaining the goodnefs of a fample of wheat, to deter- 

 mine by the eye whether the berry be perfectly fed or full, 

 plump and bright, and whether there be any adulteration 

 proceeding from fproutcd grains, fmut, or the feeds of 

 weeds ; and by the fmcll, whether there be any improper 

 impregnation, and wliethcr it has been too much heated 

 in the mow or upon the kiln ; and finally by the feel to 



W H E 



decide if the grain be fufficiently dry, as when much loaded 

 with moifture, it is improper for the ufes of the miller and 

 baker. In cafes v.here a fample handles coarfe, rough, and 

 does not flip readily in the land, it may be concluded not 

 to be in a condition either for grinding or laying up for 

 keeping. 



Wheat is ufually fold by the farmers to the dealers for 

 being made into flour ; and, in fome cafes, as feed-wheat 

 for other diftrifts, which is very advantageous, as the price 

 in that way is moftly higher. The dealers, who convert 

 it into flour, difpofe of that to the different confumers, and 

 the refufe part, as the pollard, to other perfons for the 

 food of horfes, fheep, hogs, and other animals. 



Wheat, Brining of. See Bkining. 



Wheat, ^z-i^A, that fort of wheat-crop which is grown 

 after oats, barley, or any other fuch kinds of grain, on light 

 foils of the fandy and other fimilar forts. 



Brufh-wheat crops are common in many of the more 

 northern parts of this country, but the pradlice of putting 

 wheat-crops in, in this way, is by no means to be much re- 

 commended, as they feldom anfwer any great purpofe. 



Wheat, Bud. See HvcK-lVheat. 



Wheat, Bud, in Botany. See POLYGONUM Fago- 

 pyrum. 



Wheat, Cow, in Botany and jigriculture. See Me- 

 LAMPYRUM, and Cow-Wheat. 



Wheat, Crnjfing of, the praftice of putting into the foil 

 in fowing two different forts of this grain of good qualities, 

 in order to raife a new variety of a flill better kind. The 

 praftice of croffing in this manner has been found to anfwer 

 perfeftly, not only in this cafe, but in thofe of peas, apple- 

 trees, &c. by Mr. Knight. In his trials, in years when 

 almoft the whole wheat -crops of the country were bhghted, 

 the varieties procured by croffing alone efcaped, though 

 raifed on different forts of land, and in very different 

 fituations and circumftances. See Seed, and Varieties. 



Wheat Fallow, that fort of complete naked fallow on 

 which wheat is fown. See Fallow, and Fallowing. 



Wheat Grafs, a fort of grafs met with in land of fome 

 kinds. In the trials made on graffes at Woburn, the qua- 

 lities of it ftand as below. 



Oz. 



Lbs. Or. 



From a rich fandy loam, the produce 



at the time of flowering was on the 



acre 196020=12251 4 



Weight of the grafs when dry - 78408= 4900 8 



Weight loft by the produce of the 



fame extent of ground in drying 735° I* 



The produce of the fame fpace of 



land in natritive matter - - 7657 = 478 9 

 In the creeping rooted wheat-grafs, 



the produce from a light clayey 



loam, at the time of flowering, was 



on the acre .... 196020=12251 4 



Weight of the grafs raifed on the fame 



fpace when dry - . • 78408 = 4900 8 



Weight loft by the produce of the 



acre in drying ... 7850 12 



The fame extent of land afforded in 



nutritive matter - - -612510 = 38213 10 



Sixty-four drachms of the roots afforded of nutritive mat- 

 ter 5.3 dr. The proportional value of the roots is therefore 

 to that of the grafs, as 23 to 8. 



Wheat, Grinding and converting of, into Flour, isfc, the 

 art and means of reducing it into this ftate, in which tliere 

 are much nicety and difficulty in fome cafes, efpecially with 

 the thinner-lliinned forts of this grain. 



It 



